Tony Hicks,,,,,

[JimN]

Despite what you say Jim, I was definitely using Bs for Gs in 1965/6. I was a regular attendee of the Marquee Club and countless acts' guitarists went with the B for G convention. In fact now I think about it, I think I was using two firsts plus 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th.

Clearly, you were an associate member of the London blues fraternity I identified as the epicentre of the UK's plain G movement.

You'd have been in a small minority (probably of one) at the Cavern Club on any date before mid-1967!

[StuartD]

Hi

I know a little bit more about Hank and his string gauge. In April 1970 the Shads with Paul Ferres played Batley Variety Club and Hank told me Gibson had now started making light gauge strings. He gave me a set to try and the number was E340L. There was just a sticker on the box covering the E340 original wording. Anyway my mother went to Kitchens in Leeds the following week and asked for some. She was told "Gibson don't make light gauge strings Madam". She pulled out the box that Hank had given me and replied "we'll they do now!!" The store, one of the biggest in the North, were amazed but ordered some for me. They took two weeks to come and were, as Jim said, 12-54.

Regards.

Stuart

[JimN]

The "Sonomatic Light Gauge" (E340L) that I recall from the seventies were gauged:

11 /12 / 19w / 28 / 42 / 54

The B was only one thou heavier than the high E!

It's possible that the gauges within E340L were modified over the years.

The gauges, by the way can be verified here: http://www.flippity.com/buy/Judsonia-AR-USA-G-E340L-Gibson-Electric-Guitar-Strings-290746901306

JN

[cockroach]

I started using 'understringing' (1-1-2-3-4-5) on my guitar in about June 1965 here in Australia.

I distinctly remember because I was off secondary school with flu one day in mid winter(yes, June is mid winter here) and asked my mum to buy me some strings when she went shopping. But I said 'don't buy me a normal set Mum, ask for separate strings please'... and I wrote down the numbers for her (two firsts, one second etc..there were no specific string diameter gauges on string packs then).

I was using these light gauge strings when I joined my first group in August 1965. Suited the Chuck Berry and other R'n'B Rolling Stones type stuff we were playing then.

I found out about this trick from a Beat Instrumental magazine (probably an issue from early 1965- my dear mate Keith sent them to me regularly from UK to Oz by sea mail ) which had a short article in the Instrumental News section saying something like:

'a new method of stringing has been brought to our attention by the Downliners Sect. You use two firsts, second, third, fourth and fifth, and forget about the sixth string'

I no longer have the magazine.That's as verbatim as my memory can manage after 47 years but I trust my memory..

The factory light gauge sets started becoming available in about late 1966- early 1967 here- American LaBella and Esquier mainly, can't remember Fender R'nR sets until later, and the UK sets from Picato etc arrived a bit later also.

Much later on, I tried 'overstringing'- using heavy gauge guitar strings 2,3,4,5,6 with a bass D string- tuned down to A or B it makes a nice cheap way to have a baritone guitar - good for instrumental (Duane, Jet etc) and country music guitar (Glen Campbell style) solos...

[ecca]

Red Dragon strings, they had a free first string. Ideal for downstringing.
It was Clapton that started it off for me, not that I've ever been much impressed by him. ( and still aren't)

[alanbakewell]

Red Dragon strings, they had a free first string. Ideal for downstringing.
It was Clapton that started it off for me, not that I've ever been much impressed by him. ( and still aren't)

And yet he speaks so highly of you.

[RogerCook]

It was Clapton who started me with "light" strings too. I don't remember what they were but I know I had a banjo string as the first. It was before I left school so somewhere around '64-'65 ... err ... am I that old ?

I disagree slightly with Ecca about Clapton. He may not be the world's finest technical player, but I do like some of his stuff, from the Cream era, Mayall and even some of the more commercial later offerings. Does he qualify as an innovator or legend? I'm not sure, but he certainly played a large part in introducing and popularising the modern blues genre in the UK.

Roger

[JimN]

I totally agree that it was Eric Clapton who started the slack-stringing phenomenon in the UK. It was better known in the USA, of course, but Eric wasn't a major influence there until the days of Cream.

I give a lot of the credit (in the UK) to the weekly music paper "Melody Maker". For those of us slumming it in the provinces, Chris Hayes' weekly "Any Questions" column was the key insight into innovative use of strings, effects, amps, etc. Both Eric and Hank used to answer readers' questions all the time, as did Jeff Beck and Ron Wood (when he was the bassist with the Birds, prior to joining Jeff Beck's band with Rod Stewart). Even Bruce and John Rostill used to answer questions about acoustic guitars and rhythm playing. I can't offhand recall John ever answering a question ]about bass-playing!

JN

[ecca]

I tell a lie....... he did impress me but his technique more than the stuff he played.
I could say the same about Jeff Beck really.
The finger vibrato I hadn't seen before Clapton.
Took me a while to do that, I was pulling it instead of pushing it and ran out of fretboard on the first string.

[cockroach]

Despite the widespread use of light gauge strings over the past 40 odd years, it is apparent that they don't suit all styles of music or playing.

OK, they are easier on the fingers, but they don't give as clean, positive response as heavier strings- and I suspect they tend to encourage lazy habits to some degree, where it's easier to play cliched rock,blues or country licks with a few notes and lots of string bending rather than a cleaner more definite melodic style (Hank demonstrated this over many years).

Heavier strings are much better for playing rhythm and chords generally, giving solid clean notes and staying in tune longer with longer string life.

To get back on topic, Tony Hicks played (and probably still plays?) melodically, and his tasteful restrained use of speed when solo playing was possibly aided by heavier gauges.